Mr. Speaker, the government today smacks of cover-up and now it needs to reconcile its stories. Up to now the story has been that this is a matter of private life, but the Minister of Public Safety has said that if it were a matter of security, he would not say so to Canadians. Therefore, which one is true?

Peter Van LoanLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, I think the Liberal leader was here so he should surely know that no such thing was said by the Minister of Public Safety. He simply said that people who were concerned about national security did not talk about these kinds of meetings in a public forum. That is all he said, nothing more than that, and nothing else has changed.

Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago the House was dealing with a number of key pieces of legislation that would directly affect the lives of aboriginal people in Canada.

The bill on matrimonial real property on reserve is about correcting an obvious inequality and protecting the vulnerable in the event of a marriage breakdown. We are also dealing with the bill on our government's commitment to extend the same human rights protections to first nations on reserve, which all other Canadians enjoy.

Chuck StrahlMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians

Mr. Speaker, we are making good progress on many pieces of legislation, but I particularly like to highlight the progress on Bill C-30, a historic bill on specific claims. The bill is now in the Senate. It will have hearings again tonight on that. It is going through because the government and the Assembly of First Nations are working closely together on that bill. We co-drafted the bill. It addresses wrongs that go back decades and decades.

We are extremely proud to have all party support to once again look after the needs of first nations. It is time to get the job done for first nations in our country.

Mr. Speaker, today the Prime Minister continues his summer spinning tour of Europe, meeting with the Conservative Chancellor of Germany who has committed her country to spending $800 million to protect the world's forests, to establish a national home retrofit program and to meet Germany's climate change targets.

Could the government summon the courage to commit to putting a real price on carbon? When will the government stop damaging the environment here at home and ruining our reputation when abroad?

Mr. Speaker, instead of being a leader on environmental and climate change issues, the Prime Minister is embarrassing us in Europe, just as the Minister of the Environment did in Bali before the holidays. The Conservatives are always quick to look for an excuse, so they are blaming their own mismanagement on 13 years of Liberal inaction and incompetence.

The problem is that their plan does not have a fixed, absolute cap. Without that, we cannot reduce greenhouse gases. When can we expect to have a real plan?

Mr. Speaker, the NDP record on the environment is unbelievable. In the budget the government wanted to end the subsidies for big oil sands, the big oil producers. The NDP is supporting the Liberals to have that continue. This government stands against it.

With regard to the Great Bear Rainforest, there are $30 million for biodiversity. What did the NDP do? It voted against that. It supports the big oil companies.

Mr. Speaker, there will be a second day of action, which comes as no surprise. Aboriginal people are frustrated by the government's refusal to address our concerns. It has been more than two years since it cancelled the Kelowna accord and all we get in its place is window dressing.

More aboriginal people are in care now than there were students at the height of the residential schools era, and the education of aboriginal children is sorely lacking.

When will the government stop ignoring aboriginal people and deliver a real plan? Will the minister stop his swagger and give us some substance?

Chuck StrahlMinister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development and Federal Interlocutor for Métis and Non-Status Indians

Mr. Speaker, we are interested in substance. That is why we are not following through on the Kelowna press release. When we came into office, we found out that there was nothing in the budget allocated for the Kelowna accord. There were no details as to how it was going to work. There was nothing in there that said how we were going to change the system to make it work. That is why Bob Nault, the former minister from the Liberal times, in case he forgets this, said that the Kelowna accord would not get the job done.

That is why we are moving on specific things such as action plans on clean water, action plans on housing, including the first ever market housing fund, action plans on specific claims, action plans on human rights. We are getting it done.

Mr. Speaker, members of Parliament, premiers, coastal Canadians, Inuit and many more have been calling on the Government of Canada to take a stand against a ban on humanely harvested Canadian seal products. They are tired of unethical fundraisers undermining a difficult but honest living.

Could the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans update the House on the action the government is taking in the European Union and on the world stage to stand up for our sealers?

The Prime Minister, who has raised this issue previously in Europe and at the United Nations, has been in two countries these past two days, France and Germany, and has raised the issue with both leaders.

At the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Conference this past week, I arranged to ensure it went on the agenda. We have the open public support of Norway, Iceland, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and Russia. We are doing our job. It is up to them to support us.